swooping motion. I nodded at him in response, stepping into what would
serve as my home until I completed the mind numbing mission assigned by
the Mermaid King.
The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. The color combination, no
surprise, was azure and white, heightened only by darker blue brush strokes.
Numerous paintings of seashells and seahorses, fishes and starfish, lined the
front entrance, creating an aperture towards a white-trimmed spiral staircase.
The opulence of the room was startling but not surprising.
If I had to wager a guess, half of these items didn’t initially belong to the
royal family.
“There’s not as much security as I would’ve expected,” I whispered to
Dair, surveying a pair of guards rushing forward to converse with Tavvy.
They, too, wore blue clothing with white crests just above their hearts. I
would have to ask Dair if that was the symbol of the royal family.
Dair chuckled at my question, grabbing my elbow to steer me towards the
staircase. I had been shamelessly standing in the foyer, gaping at everything
like a toddler.
“This isn’t our main home,” he admitted. “It’s...how would you say it? A
summer home.”
“A summer home,” I repeated blandly. Before he could respond, a guard
hurried towards him and said a few words in a language I didn’t recognize.
Dair replied back in the same language. It was a beautiful sound, all soft
vowels and smooth consonants. I waited until the guard had disappeared with
a brisk nod before raising an inquiring eyebrow at my Mermaid Prince.
“It’s Mer,” he explained, hand on the small of my back. He guided me
past the staircase and down a long hall. “It’s the official language here. We
only speak English at the Capital.”
“Does every race have their own language?” I asked, peering through
each room as we passed. One was what looked like a billiards room. Another,
a bathroom. And a...was that an indoor beach?
Before I could gawk further, Dair led me to a room at the end of the hall.
The door was already open to reveal a large bed, easily twice as large as the
one back in the Capital, with golden trim and a teal canopy overhead. There
were at least a dozen drawers separated between three dressers, and a single
desk sat in the center of the room, not against the wall as I would expect.
“I instructed the servants to set up this room for us,” he admitted,
unbuttoning his white shirt. My eyes latched onto the blond chest hair
peeking through, and his eyes heated.
There was the sound of glass shattering followed immediately by,
“Mother fucking ass wipe.” Moments later, Bash entered the room, suitcase
slung over his shoulder and eyes brewing with irritation.
Behind him, Lupe sauntered into the room with a smug, satisfied smile on
his handsome face.
“What did you do?” I asked, cocking a brow up.
Ignoring me, Lupe turned towards Dair with a devious smile. “Hopefully
those vases in the hall aren’t expensive.”
“Oh, they’re just gifts from the Genie royal family hundreds of years
ago,” replied Dair dryly.
Lupe chuckled, the sound sending delightful shivers up and down my
body. “Good. You can just ask Dev for a new one.”
“You didn’t need to throw it at me!” Bash protested. He tossed his
suitcase onto the bed and spun on the Shifter with narrowed eyes.
“I was aiming for Tavvy, but he ducked.” Shrugging carelessly, Lupe
opened up his suitcase and began unpacking his clothes into drawers.
“Why were you aiming for Tavvy?” I questioned. At this point, I felt like
I had missed an entire conversation.
In a dark voice I almost didn’t recognize, Lupe replied, “He was looking
at your ass.”
“Oh.”
Thank you for defending my honor?
That didn’t sound right.
“Where’s Ryland?” I spun in a circle, searching the corners for my
Shadow. After our blowout earlier, I wanted to check on him. To make sure
he was okay.
Both he and Killian felt misguided guilt for what had happened with
Haven. Wrongfully placed guilt. I briefly wondered if any of my other mates
felt like that.
It was ridiculous. I was more than capable of taking care of myself, and
these men weren’t gods, just godlike in appearance. They couldn’t control or
influence other people’s actions.
masculine scream echoed from upstairs. Ryland appeared at the doorway,
chuckling softly. When he saw me looking, the shadows moved even closer
to where I stood, and I knew he would be smiling unabashedly.
“The twins were looking at your ass also,” he explained casually. I
snorted.
Possessive, over-protective, sexy fools.
Lupe moved from his bag to mine and began unpacking my own clothing.
I watched in fascination as the big man’s cheeks warmed when he pulled out
my bras and panties.
“So do you have the map?” Dair asked, sprawling back on the bed.
Nodding, I reached into my pocket and held the fading piece of paper. I
set it on the desk, and my mates moved to crowd around it.
Ah. That was why the desk was positioned where it was.
“So we know nothing about him besides that he’s a male and has red hair
and was last seen three months ago in the Mermaid Kingdom,” Bash
murmured, and even his voice sent a wave of irritation through me.
“No shit,” I snapped before I could stop myself. His eyes snapped to
mine, flaring hotly.
“What the hell is your problem?” he asked tersely.
“You’re one to talk-!”
“Enough!” Lupe bellowed. He slammed a large hand down at the table.
“Now is not the time.”
“No petty fights,” Ryland reminded me teasingly, and I rolled my eyes.
This wouldn’t be a petty fight. This would be an ass-kicking, ball-
crunching one.
Or a ball-sucking...
No! Bad, Z!
“I don’t know what the hell this even means,” I admitted, refocusing my
attention back on the slip of paper. “Do you think your dad just wrote down
random gibberish? Am I just supposed to kill a random man?”
The thought made my stomach clench and tighten uncomfortably.
Dair took the paper from the table and began to scan the contents. A
single wrinkle formed between his blond brows, and I yearned to smooth it
out with my hand.
“Wait,” he said suddenly. His finger touched an island on the map. “That
doesn’t exist.”
“Huh?”
“That island doesn’t exist.”
When I just continued to stare at him blankly, Dair heaved out a breath
and hurried out of the room. Not even a full minute had passed before he
returned carrying a larger replica of the map the Mermaid King had given us.
It resembled what I had seen when we had first entered the kingdom.
Islands, a large landmass that made up the western seaboard, and an endless
ocean. Dair held the small map up to the larger map to compare.
Everything was the exact same, except
...
The island Dair was pointing to, one of hundreds, didn’t exist on the large
map.
“How did you know this?” I asked breathlessly. A tiny piece finally fell
into place.
Dair blushed delicately.
“I um...”
“He had a crush on his geography teacher when he was younger,” Lupe
filled in with a chuckle. Dair’s cheeks reddened further, and I couldn’t resist
teasing him.
“Maybe because you did so good I could give you a reward,” I whispered
in his ear. His eyes widened, hands clenching the desktop.
What the hell had come over me?
I had turned into a sexual deviant since I had found my mates. And I liked
it.
“Gross,” Bash muttered like a petulant child who had walked in on Mom
and Dad kissing. I snorted out a laugh.
“You just wish-“
Once more, our banter was interrupted, but not by Lupe.
Tavvy stood in the open doorway, arms crossed over his muscular chest
and eyes trained on me.
“Your task has begun,” he said stiffly.
Irritation filled me.
“I know,” I snapped. “We’re working on-“
hall. I remained standing, fuming with fury. He really needed to stop treating
me like a dog with basic commands. Come. Stop. Eat.
What was next? Fuck?
I shivered at the thought of fucking Tavvy. Frankly, I would rather eat
shit.
“Are you coming or not?” Tavvy bellowed, and the childish part of me
wanted to rebel and remain where I was. However, I knew that would be
futile in the long run.
A pawn, I reminded myself. I was their pawn until I could destroy the
damn game board.
Sharing an irritated look with my mates, I stomped after Tavvy. I made
sure to take my sweet damn time. The asshole could wait for all the fucks I
gave.
By the time I reached him, his face was flushed with anger.
Unfortunately, he didn’t comment or rise to my bait. Instead, he led me
towards a staircase that descended into a basement.
A dungeon.
Gray walls loomed everywhere I looked, and the smell of piss saturated
the air. The heat was almost palpable, and sweat was already beginning to
coat my skin.
“What is this place?” I whispered to Dair, but he looked as shocked as I
felt.
He hadn’t known this place existed.
“This door always led to another hallway,” he explained to me in a harsh
whisper. “It must’ve been illusion magic.”
Bash muttered something indecipherable, and Lupe’s nostrils flared as he
sniffed the air. The muscles in his back tightened at whatever he uncovered,
and I placed my small hand in the middle of his back.
Fortunately, the first few cells were empty.
But my luck could only last for so long.
We stopped in front of the largest cell, one that housed six individuals.
Each one had red hair, various shades that ranged from garnet red to a carrot
orange. Each was a male. Each was naked.
And each was covered in blood.
“What the hell?” I whispered, eyes tracking each of the men’s
movements. Their dirty bodies ran towards the bars of their cage, hands
extending as they pleaded to be let out. There was a wide-range of ages too, I
noted. The youngest appeared to be sixteen and the oldest was in his mid-
forties.
“What is this, Tavvy?” Dair’s voice was tight with disgust and horror.
Lupe had gone still beside me, and I knew he was fighting his beast. He was
a gentle soul by nature. It must’ve been difficult for him to see so many
people distressed. I knew it was for me.
“This is her task.” Despite addressing Dair, Tavvy’s eyes remained fixed
on me. “Choose one.”
“What?” I breathed, staggering back a step. My movement landed me
against Bash’s hard chest, and his hands came to wrap around me. I leaned
into his embrace, any and all anger I felt for him disappearing at his comfort.
“One’s a traitor. The others are innocent.” His smile widened, sharklike.
Predatory. Malevolent. “Twenty-four hours. Choose one to die.”
TWENTY-FIVE
Z
The muscles in my stomach tightened to the point of pain. All I could
do was stare at Tavvy - a fucked up soul wrapped in a pretty face and
body.
Ice slithered down my spine, encasing me. It felt as if I was standing in a
tundra with wind howling through my hair. Distantly, I could hear the men
crying and screaming and begging, but their voices began to blur together.
God...
They were all humans! Powerless and defenseless against the
Nightmares.
One of them was a child...
I must’ve said the last thought out loud, for Tavvy’s lips twisted into a
grin.
“So you would choose to spare him because of his age, even if he was a
traitor? Even if you were condemning an innocent man to die in his place?”
The tightening in my stomach reached exponential levels, threatening to
expel the contents of my last meal. I heaved, and Bash hugged me tighter to
him.
“This is sick, Tavvy. Even for you,” Dair whispered, aghast.
At that, his smile fled to be replaced by something colder. Darker.
“In this world, you have to be sicker. Harsher. Crueler.” He spat on the
ground, near my feet, and Bash lifted me slightly to move us both backwards.
“All I ever wanted was Father’s attention, but did he spare me an ounce of
the time he gave you? No. You got all his fucking attention. Perfect Dair.” He
twisted the last words, spittle clumping at the corner of his mouth.
Dair’s eyes were comically wide in his face.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he snapped at last. “The attention...you
can fucking have it!”
I didn’t understand what was happening, but I knew the confrontation
stemmed from years of pent-up aggression. On both ends.
Before I could blink, Dair lunged forward and tackled Tavvy to the
ground. For a man who had just gotten legs, he sure knew how to use them.
Eyes radiating an incandescent fury, he punched at Tavvy’s face.
And something inside me broke.
Running forward, I grabbed Dair’s shoulder, preparing to pull him back,
only to use my free hand and punch him square in the face.
What the hell?
Even as panic settled in my chest, I felt my body move instinctively,
protectively, in front of Tavvy’s prone form. A gurgled laugh escaped the
evil prince as the others looked at me in shock. Blood coated Dair’s lips from
my fist, and I would forever hate myself for being the cause.
I tried to convey with my eyes how sorry I was, how I had no idea what
was happening, how my body’s reaction was instinctual.
Understanding dawned on Bash’s face first - the slightest widening of his
eyes and sharp intake of breath.
Behind me, Tavvy still laughed maniacally.
“It’s the spell, dumbass,” he said, and I glanced over my shoulder. Tavvy
was staring at his brother, eyes slitted. “The
bonding one. It makes her
incapable of harming anyone in any of the royal families.” He staggered to
his feet and brushed a hand down my arm. Lupe growled at the contact but
did not dare take a step closer. “It makes her first reaction to protect them.”
“It doesn’t mean I’m going to play along with your sick games,” I
snapped, pivoting to face him. Instead of the anger I expected, his eyes
danced with amusement.
“Then you die.” This was all said with an indifferent shrug of his
shoulders. “Refuse a task given to you by the Kings, and you explode.
Another caveat of the little binding spell.”
The smug bastard sounded giddy. I wanted to punch him in the face
repeatedly.
Huh. At least I could still mentally harm him.
“You son of a bitch,” Lupe hissed through clenched teeth. He looked as if
he was seconds away from tearing the blond prince’s head off his body.
“Twenty-four hours,” Tavvy cooed, wiping blood from his mouth with
the back of his hand. Throwing me a wink, he glanced once more at the red-
headed prisoners. They screamed at him, but their words ran together. One
emotion was painstakingly clear: anguish.
It cleaved my heart in two.
“Find the traitor,” Tavvy told me. “And then kill him.”
I PACED the bedroom that had once felt homey but now resembled a prison.
That was what I was, after all. A prisoner. A piece of clay that the Kings
could mold and shape until they had their perfect, obedient assassin.
And because of the binding spell, there was nothing I could do.
“Fuck!” I shouted, throwing something at the door. I didn’t even bother to
see what it was as glass shattered. Hopefully, it was another expensive vase
that the Mermaid King treasured.
“You need to calm down,” Bash snapped, and I rounded on him.
“Don’t tell me to calm down! I have twenty-four hours to figure out who
the traitor is, so I don’t accidentally sentence an innocent man to death.” My
breathing was heavy, chest rising and falling.
“We have a starting place,” Dair whispered. It was the first time he had
spoken since we had left the dungeons, and his voice was hoarse. Not the
hoarse you would get from screaming, but a sort of tired reluctance. Face
strained, he nodded towards the map still on the wooden desk. “This is a
game to my father. A scavenger hunt.”
“Everything with the Kings is a game!” Spreading my hands wide, I spun